Hey, gidday mates! You know a maître d’ is doing their job exceptionally well when they become as talked about — if not more so — than the restaurant itself, and Alireza Niroomand has achieved that status. The Iranian-born, French-bred, American-import runs front of house at Soho scene Sant Ambroeus — where, in a single seating, I’ve seen Joe Jonas eating with Richard Chai, while Jenna Lyons drank coffee a few tables over — and masterminds the dining room with grace and good humor; some say he’s the most charming man in New York City. I met Alireza through Kat Irlin, and she suggested I sit down with him to talk the chess game that is his job. Like a lot of Parisians, Alireza isn’t afraid to tell it like it is, and he’d just gotten into trouble for something he’d said in another interview, so we began the conversation like this: